Northside senior guard Jamal Parker made history Wednesday night in leading the Monarchs past the Australian Travelers 57-43.

On a night in which he said he felt good “from the jump ball,” Parker became the first player — boy or girl — in the 12-year history of the school to score 1,000 points, reaching the milestone on a conventional three-point play in the fourth quarter.

The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder finished with 29 points, including four 3-pointers.

“It feels great. It’s exciting,” Parker said. “Hard work pays off. I knew I was close, but I didn’t think I was this close to 1,000. So I was surprised.”

Asked to describe the milestone moment, the reserved Parker replied: “I drove to the hole and got hit and finished it.”

The game was stopped momentarily and Parker was presented a white basketball with his name and 1,000 points on it to commemorate the moment. Parker said reaching 1,000 points was “one of my goals.”

“I’m glad I broke it,” he said, adding his next goal is “go to the states. That’s my next goal right there.”

Coach Tony Marshburn called it “quite an awesome milestone and feat.”

“He set the bar tonight. He’s going to continue to raise it,” Marshburn added. “I’m real happy for Jamal and his teammates because he’s very humble. His teammates were cheering for him when he came into the locker room after the game. They were hyped. It was a good experience for everybody tonight.”

Marshburn said he didn’t tell Parker or almost no one else besides his wife that Parker was nearing the 1,000-point barrier.

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Marshburn said. “I might have been the only one who knew, me and my wife. I didn’t even tell the assistants. I think I might have told them he was a certain amount away, I just kept it kind of secret.”

As for the game, the Monarchs jumped out to a 15-9 lead after the first quarter and led 29-18 at halftime in running their record to 4-0 heading into Friday night’s nonconference game at home against White Oak (2-4).

Correction: Because of a mistake in the scorebook, a Northside JV player was misidentified in Wednesday’s newspaper. His last name is Hester and he scored 16 points in the Monarchs’ 71-55 loss to Southwest.

Australian Travelers 47, Northside 43: Ashanti Curry led all scores with 23 points while also pulling down a team-high 6 rebounds for Northside, which was outscored 17-11 in the final quarter as the Australian Travelers beat the Monarchs.

“Overall we didn’t play well,” Northside first-year coach Chad Novelli said. “We played well below our potential. Ashanti was a beast tonight. We need everybody to jump on board on that. If we get five doing that, we could be a very solid team.”

The Monarchs (4-1) weren’t helped when their top defender, Kayla Hill, suffered a sprained ankle early in the fourth quarter. Novelli said it was uncertain if Hill would be able to play when the Monarchs play host to White Oak on Friday.

While saying his team’s play “left a lot to be desired,” Novelli said he didn’t want to take “anything away from the Aussies.”